She tells of twin bands,
To set us all free.
She sings of the lines
Of glove and the hand,
She tells of a time
For one final stand.
But this time of sun
Will end all too soon.
Our hope quickly won,
Will die in one moon.
She sings from the skies,
Through bare root and tree;
She sings through the lies
To both parts of me.
In this her sad song
A message she sends:
In blood it began,
In blood it must end.”
He felt a slight shiver as he read the final lines, then looked up from the page to see hundreds of faces staring back. Paiscion was the only one who moved. He nodded quietly to himself, a smile growing on his lips.
“And so there it is,” he said, almost to himself, his eyes bright behind his glasses, “our past, our present and our future!”
There were murmurings from the crowd, then someone cried out: “But I don’t understand!”
Paiscion threw his arms wide. “The song tells us all we need to know!” he cried. “That all is coming to pass just as the great Merisu foretold! That Sylas and Naeo, these two children wearing twin bands, are destined to fight a great war for freedom! A battle to vanquish the lies that have divided our two worlds! Our two selves!”
“You see!” shouted someone by the river. “They are here to fight for us!”
Paiscion shook his head. “Not to fight for the Suhl,” he corrected, “but for all humankind. For the freedom of all. For our right to be whole! The Suhl may be part of this war, but it will not be fought for us.”
There were some whispers, but when no one spoke up, Paiscion turned back to the gathering.
“But the song tells us more than that. It tells us that there is no time to lose, that hope will die in one moon, which can only mean the moon that brought Sylas to us.”
“But it’s only just over two weeks before the new moon!” cried Glubitch, shaking his red locks. “It’s full tomorrow. Surely there’s no time for—”
“It seems that’s all the time we have,” said Paiscion firmly. “We will just have to use it well. Which brings us to the true purpose of the song: to tell us what must be done next.”
“But I didn’t hear any such thing,” grumbled Kaspertak. “It’s the usual Samarok gobbledygook!”
“And yet it was there, in the very title!” cried Paiscion. “Sisters and brothers, this is Isia’s song! Can anyone doubt that she is at the centre of everything? That she was there at the beginning and that she knows the end? And is it really a surprise that she – the Seer of Souls and the one power that Thoth does not control – that she holds the key to this prophecy?”
There were many nods of agreement and for the first time the congregation seemed to be one, muttering their assent.
Sylas listened to all this with growing astonishment and unease – fighting battles for all of humankind? Making the worlds whole? People whole? And in twenty days? It seemed ludicrous. But there was something else: a knot was forming in his stomach – a knot of frustration. The only people not being consulted on what should happen next were he and Naeo. What if they didn’t want to do all this together? What if they just couldn’t? They could hardly bear to be in the same gardens! And in truth, no matter how important all this sounded, he could not – must not – forget that his mother was still alive, languishing in some hospital somewhere in his own world.
“You are of course right,” said an elderly woman near the Living Tree. “Sylas and Naeo should go back to the city and consult with Isia straight away.”
Suddenly Naeo stepped forward. “But what if we don’t want to travel together any more?” she asked abruptly. “What if we can’t? You’ve seen what happens when we’re too close! And it’s getting worse all the time!”
The elderly woman wavered and sat down.
Ash stood and stepped forward. “In any case, I’d say it’s not a great idea for them to move around together,” he said. “Surely that’s just what Thoth will be expecting? He’ll have every Scryer he has looking out for them travelling together.”
“But their power lies in being together!” said Kaspertak. “I thought that was the whole point!”
“Yes!” shouted someone else. “Wasn’t that why Naeo summoned Sylas in the first place? So that they could be together? Change things together?”
“It’s not as though anyone has done this before!” replied Naeo sharply. “How was I to know it’d feel like this? And anyway, who says we have to be together all the time? Why not just when it matters?”
The Say-So grew quiet. Paiscion took off his glasses and rubbed them on his handkerchief, deep in thought. Finally he placed them back on his nose.
“A conundrum,” he said, wagging his finger as though finding his way through his thoughts. “But if Sylas and Naeo cannot do everything together – if they can only be together when it most matters – then perhaps only one of them can go to Isia after all. And if that is the case, I wonder if the other can use their time just as profitably …” He nodded and wagged his finger more vigorously. “I wonder if they can find a way to be together without harm … yes … or apart and together at the same time …”
“Paiscion, but you’re making no sense!” grumbled Glubitch.
“I’m talking about the Merisi,” said Paiscion, excited once again. “After all, the reason the Merisi created the Merisi Band was to keep the wearer from meeting their own Glimmer. And they created the Glimmer Glass – the mirrors that allow them to see their Glimmer!” He looked searchingly around the gardens. “Bringing Glimmers together and keeping them apart! If anyone understands the forces that draw us to and repel us from our Glimmer, it is the Merisi. And if anybody will know how Sylas and Naeo can make use of their gift without needing to be together, it is the Merisi!”
“Those Merisi inventions are mere trinkets,” protested Kaspertak. “Cobbled-together mongrels of Essenfayle and science.”
“How can you say that when you have seen what the Merisi Band can do?” retorted Filimaya. “And there’s so much more! We spoke earlier about the Otherly Guild – they spent years studying the Merisi’s Things. They found them to have extraordinary power!”
Paiscion nodded. “As many of you know, I led the Otherly Guild and yes, among other things, we sought to understand the inventions of the Merisi – their miraculous and wonderful Things. They are more in number and greatness than we were ever able to understand.”
Sylas had been listening to all this with growing realisation. “Things?” he repeated. “You mean the Things that Mr Zhi had when I met him? The ones in the Shop of Things?”
Paiscion grinned. “The very same.”
Sylas’s eyes grew wide. “So … you think if I went back to the Shop of Things, Mr Zhi might know … what? How we can be together while we’re apart?”
“Quite possibly. Mr Zhi is the foremost authority on